Scientists trying to predict the future path of Zika say that 2.6 billion people living in parts of Asia and Africa could be at risk of infection, based on a new analysis of travel, climate and mosquito patterns in those regions.
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Singapore will no longer isolate people who test positive for Zika or are suspected of carrying it as the number of cases of the mosquito-borne virus increases across the city-state, the health ministry said on Monday.
Singapore authorities on Sunday confirmed 27 more cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection, bringing the total to 242.
Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said Sunday that new cases were bound to emerge now that Zika had entered communities.
The last of the new cases has no known links to any cluster.
Zika is a serious viral disease which can cause microcephaly in the newborns if contracted by pregnant women.
Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted Zika case on Saturday, a 61-year-old man who has died of heart-related complications, the government said.
She said: “If Zika is the causative agent behind the surge in microcephaly-and possibly also Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease of the nervous system now on the rise among adults in Brazil-this may demonstrate that the virus has adapted to the human environment and may have mutated to become more pathogenic to humans”.
Hundreds of specialist workers conduct island-wide inspections for mosquito breeding grounds, spray insecticide and clear stagnant water. It has also stepped up health checks at its main border with Singapore, through which 200,000 people pass daily. A healthcare system ranked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as among the top 10 in the world is also in Singapore’s favour.
Malaysia, with a population of nearly 30 million and a size 46 times bigger than Singapore, faces a much more challenging fight against Zika, doctors say.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes.
The WHO has declared the Zika outbreak an worldwide health emergency, and if Malaysia’s fight against dengue is any indication, it will struggle with Zika. Dengue is not spread by sex, like Zika, but mosquitoes are responsible for the vast majority of Zika cases globally.
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Uganda was the first country to report the virus in 1947 but it came to light in the Americas in 2014.
